If you want to wander around for a while in a mind filled with copious amounts of self-persecution for things he has no control over and who spends plenty of time torturing himself about not wanting to risk the opportunity of either throwing his life away in a splashy/squishy manner or striking it rich (with no real choice in which he gets), then this is the book for you. And let's not forget the interludes in the psychologist's office, where he blames all of his life's choices or failure to choose on his mommy issues.

This novel is more than just a sci fi story. It's a larger exploration of the protagonists character and mental approach to life in a future space going society. The most important things are not the technology surprises. A little slow at first but it picks up momentum.

The performance is excellent. The story holds together but seems somewhat contrived and really challenges believability. Also the personality of the hero would never pass screening tests for any space flight assignment.

I read this in paperback when I was a kid. Now here it is more than 20 years later and it was even better than I remembered it. The story is engaging, the performance is excellent, and the story has me wanting to re-listen/read the rest of the series. At first, I though the little sessions with Sigmund were transparent and distracting, but by the end, they were part of the story and as engaging as the main story-line. I'm in for a penny, so I guess I'm in for a pound. Gotta download Blue Event Horizon now.

This book is told in flashback during psychotherapy of the protagonist. It includes a few hours of banter between the patient and the AI therapist program to flesh out that aspect of the story. I found this to be a unique and unexpected way to move a narrative along, and I enjoyed it. Pohl does a fine job. It's not the best Sci-Fi book ever, but in a world of horrible ones it is a solid, enjoyable entry, with a memorable main character.

Would you consider the audio edition of Gateway to be better than the print version?

Very good story. Narration by Oliver Wyman was great, as usual -- the problem for me, is that I associate his voice with the main character in a couple of other very popular book series. It takes a little while to separate his performance in this book, and to begin to "hear" the voice of Robinette, the protagonist in this book.

This title was recommended to us as a Hugo & Nebula Award winner in the Audible intro to A.C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama". Compelling, annoying, fascinating, and loaded with heartache and that "being there" sensation (verisimilitude), this was our best science fiction listen to date. We could hardly wait until our next listening session to see what would happen next, and how it would happen. Even though the protagonist is a bit of a jerk we have total empathy with him.

We only wish the remaining three books of Pohl's "Heechee" series were available on audio!!!